Florida man in custody after 37 years as a fugitive

TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) – A Florida man who failed to surrender himself for a 10-month prison sentence nearly four decades ago has been arrested in Mexico and will be arraigned in a U.S. federal court this week.

Robert Woodring was taken into custody in Guadalajara, Mexico last month in an operation involving authorities from the United States and Mexico, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.

He failed to surrender in September 1977 for removing a yacht to keep it from being seized by authorities.

Woodring, who formerly lived in the Fort Lauderdale area, had also been sentenced to seven years in prison in a related mail fraud case, officials said.

In 1984, he was indicted on charges of failure to appear to begin his sentence, prosecutors said, and now is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.